Chapter Six - All your fault

Freya Rose

Finnley stayed in the car with Lorena and Draco. He’d been avoiding me a lot lately, so any opportunity he had to ditch me, he took it. I was quite surprised that he wouldn’t want to come back and hear out our plan to strip Selene of her powers. It hurt a lot to know that he hated me more right now than he hated Selene. I had to ignore the pain though, I had too much going on to worry about his feelings, and I didn’t have time to fix it with him.

“Well, if Gideon doesn’t care about anything in this world, including his family. I don’t see how we’re going to convince him to hand over that Phoenix power of his,” Marik remarked.

“But he did give back my power,” I spoke up.

“Yeah, but that was because mother told him to. I’m guessing if she’s his dealer, then he’s not going to disobey her, is he?” Traian chimed in.

“No, I guess not. Well she’s not going to ask him for us, now is she?” I said with a sarcastic smirk.

The twins shook their heads, then we all just sat there silent for a while.

“There is one other way,” Savanah said softly. We all turned to her, filled with hope. “Selene has to make a fresh deal with each new leader of the coven. When the old leader dies, all his power gets past to his firstborn.”

“Draco,” I butted in.

“Yes. But, if his ancestors have been collecting Phoenix power for generations, then he might not be able to handle that power. He is only young, and if they have collected enough power, when it’s transferred to him, he may evolve.”

“Evolve?” Traian asked in confusion, and if he hadn’t, I would have.

“He'll become a dragon,” Marik added.

Savanah nodded in agreement. I sighed and ran my hand down my face. I didn’t know what to make of that. Could we do that to a kid? Could we kill his father and fill him with enough power that it could kill him too? Or worse, turn him into another powerful enemy. I could tell the others were thinking it too.

“If that’s our only option, then we will have to discuss it with Draco,” I said to the crowd, and they all nodded in agreement.

“There is nothing to discuss. I’ll do it. I’ll kill my father.” We all turned to Draco, and I went to reply but he didn’t give me a chance. “But I have a few conditions.”

He was staring directly at me. I looked around at the others and they all raised their eyebrows or shrugged in reply.

“What conditions, Draco?” I asked him, curious about what he could possibly want.

“First, I need a promise from you, that we will be taking in by your pack and be treated like all your other pack members.”

“That I can promise. You will be a part of our family, I swear.”

“Both of us?” He asked while holding his hand out for Lorena.

She took his hand and stood beside him.

“Both of you,” I said with a soft smile.

“Good, because we have no family or anywhere to go. Right, second thing is, I need some of your power.”

“Oh, absolutely not!” Finn snapped from behind the teens.

“I’m sorry, but I don’t remember asking you for your input!” Draco yelled at Finn and squared up to him.

They were seconds away from breaking into a fight and I’d had just about enough of Finn's attitude.

“Finnley, enough!” I bellowed using my Alpha voice.

Regardless if I chose to be addressed as Luna, I still had Alpha power over the pack.

To my surprise he didn’t react. No bowing down, and he didn’t back away from the child either. I knitted my brow while mind linking Savanah.

“Why isn’t he obeying me?”

She looked over at me and replied, 

“He’s blocked out his wolf. Without him in the background, you have no Alpha control.”

“For Christ sake, this is all I need. An over emotional man child.”

Savannah shrugged at me, knowing she couldn’t help convince him to accept his wolf, or obey me. I rolled my eyes and sighed, before storming over towards him. I didn’t have a chance to reach him before he attacked Draco. Lorena started screaming hysterically, while Traian launched himself at Finnley. I wanted to jump in, but I knew that Traian could handle himself just fine. I grabbed ahold of Draco before he joined in and got himself killed, then just stood there watching the two men beat the crap out of each other.

I could tell that Traian had only been tolerating Finnley and his behavior all this time for my benefit. He needed an excuse to pull him in line and teach him a lesson, and to be honest, I didn’t blame him. Finnley had been distant, rude, and downright disrespectful. His attitude had even started rubbing off on some of the male members in the pack, and I’d let it go on for too long already. I’d given him more than enough time to sort out his feelings and issues, and he was just getting worse.

Somehow Finnley got the better of Traian and was straddling him and punching him in the face.

“This is all your fault. You turned her into that monstrosity.”

Traian just laughed every time Finnley’s fist connected with his face. He might have found it all funny, but I was beyond upset and insulted. While still holding onto Draco’s collar, I glanced over at Marik with a sad look on my face. He glanced at me mid laugh and ceased immediately. He cleared his throat, and in the deepest and most booming voice I’d ever heard, he roared, 

“Shift!”

Finnley jumped off of Traian and before his feet hit the ground he began to shift. I guessed that, however far down he'd shoved his wolf, it clearly wasn’t deep enough to escape the first Alpha. When Finn had shifted completely his wolf rolled over and showed Marik its belly. Flashes of Ambers wolf and Tristan flashed through my mind, and I hoped that Marik wouldn’t slice open Finn's flesh like Tristan did with Amber. I hated Finn at the moment, but I still didn’t want to see him torn apart.

Luckily for me, Marik had no intentions of hurting Finn, he smiled at me and said, 

“Talk to his wolf, you’ll find out all you need to know.”

“I can do that?”

“You can’t, but Mina can. As you turned him, he is not only a part of you, but he is a part of Mina. Shift and let her do the talking.”

He walked over to Traian and helped him onto his feet. They then both walked off in the direction of the car. Savannah approached me and placed her hands onto Draco's temples. He calmed instantly and she escorted the teens back to the car. I took in a deep breath and removed my clothes. I didn’t want to be going back to the car completely naked. First, I’d scare the hell out of the kids, and also excite a couple of big kids. I folded up my clothes and placed them onto the fallen tree.

“Are you ready to talk to Finns wolf?” I asked Mina.

“Yes, although I don’t think either of us will like what I have to say.”

I shifted and immediately handed over control to Mina. We gradually approached Finnley's wolf, who was now gradually getting up off the ground. I sat back deep in our mind, I wanted to give them enough space, but still be able to hear the conversation. His wolf stepped forward and purred as he rubbed his face against ours. I could feel the love that Mina had towards him, and it broke my heart that Finnley had denied her the chance to get to know his wolf.

“What is your name dear boy?” Mina asked him.

“Um… I wasn’t given one.”

I struggled to keep my emotion in check. I felt so sorry for the poor wolf. He'd been with Finnley for years, and the guy hadn’t even given him a name. It was heartbreaking. As I listened in on their conversation, my anger and frustration towards Finnley grew. The wolf told Mina that Finnley rarely spoke to him, and that he was lonely. Finnley regularly told him that he was an abomination and shouldn’t be alive, and that he'd ruined his life. I couldn’t believe it, did Finnley not see that this wolf didn’t choose this life either. He didn’t choose to be created.

In some ways I felt responsible. I had bitten him all those years ago, and regardless of me not realizing what I was doing, it was still my fault. Then with everything going on, I just assumed that Finnley was coping, and had a connection with his wolf. I didn’t even bother to check if there were any issues, or talk to him about it at all. But regardless of how guilty I felt, I still blamed Finn. He didn’t come to me or anyone and let them know he was struggling. And I wasn’t the one who made him treat that poor wolf so cruelly.

“If there was a way for me to go away and give Finnley his old life back, I would do it in a heartbeat. I hate knowing that my very existence causes him so much pain.”

Right in that moment, if I’d had control of my body, I’d be balling like a baby. The wolf seemed as though he’d calmed down and matured a lot since the day I had to stop him ripping everyone apart at the hunter’s faction. It was such a shame that Finnley couldn’t see what a great friend he had inside him all along. 

“There is a way my dear boy. All you need to do is sever the bond between you and Finnley. You have to reject him. You will go into a deep slumber, never to return again.”

I could hear the emotion in her voice, she didn’t want him to go. She didn’t have the chance to be close to him, but he was still her first made son, and losing him was going to break her heart, and mine. I couldn’t believe how selfless and kind he was being. He just wanted Finnley to be happy.

“Then that is what I shall do. I am sorry that I never got the opportunity to know you, mother. But I must do this for Finnley, and myself. I can’t live like this any longer, it crushes me every day to know I’m the cause of his worst pain.”

“Mina, you need to give him a name,” I suggested.

“I would have loved to get to know you son. But just know, I will always love you, and I am so incredibly proud of you, Wulfric.”

“Is that my name? Thank you, I am so happy.”

“Yes, it means wolf power, and that is you, you are stronger than any other wolf I know. I will forever be proud to call you my son, Ric.”

“A name and a nickname. You have given me more love and acceptance in less than five minutes, than I have been shown in a lifetime. I have to leave now, if I don’t, I’ll never go, and I can’t put myself or Finnley through this anymore. Goodbye, mother. Goodbye, Freya.”

I delved deeper into our mind as I gave them some space to take a run together. They’d never been given the opportunity to truly bond as wolves should. That was partly my fault too. I guess we all took our wolves for granted, regularly treating them like a weapon or extension of ourselves, when truly they were as much a part of us as we were. From now on they deserved their place, deserved some respect. I would see to it that our wolves would get to bond with each other and have their own time to do as they wished.

If nothing else came of this awful situation, at least I could use it as a learned lesson. Wulfric had definitely touched my heart, and I was going to honor him by making my pack and the rest of the werewolf community integrate, respect and love their wolves more. Without them we wouldn’t be who we are, so they deserved more than what we'd been showing them. I don’t know how long I stayed away, but Mina came searching for me, letting me know that he was gone, and thanking me for letting her say goodbye to him. I wanted to be there for her, but she said she needed time alone, and who was I to argue with her.

Once I regained control I shifted back into my human form. Mina had brought me back to the tree that held my clothes, so I got dressed. As I was pulling my top down, I heard a twig snap. I shot around and saw a lost looking Finnley. All I wanted to do was punch him in the face, not only for how he'd treated me, but Wulfric. I was just about ready to storm over to him and give him a piece of my mind, but before I had a chance to, he ran towards me and collapsed onto his knees in front of me.

He threw his arms around my waist and rested his head on my stomach, then sobbed like a baby. I didn’t know how to respond. I just placed my hand onto his head and ran my fingers through his hair. I wanted nothing more than to comfort him. He’d been my friend through everything for the last few years, but I couldn’t get Wulfric's sadness and loneliness out of my head. Regardless of how nice Finn had been to me, to know that he could treat another creature like that made me angry, and things between us could never be the same. I wished in some way that I hadn’t heard everything between Mina and Wulfric, but I had, and there was no way of forgetting it.

“He’s gone Freya, that dreadful mutt is gone.”

I grabbed his face and threw him to the ground. He looked up at me with confusion and I just scowled back at him. He clearly didn’t see that insulting Wulfric was a direct insult to me. I was just happy that Mina wasn’t around to hear it. One person was around to hear it though and he wasn’t happy at all. I could hear Marik’s rumbling growl as he approached us. I huffed and turned towards Finnley.

“I suggest you go back to the faction. There is nothing left for you here. Goodbye Finnley,” with that said, I turned and walked away.

“But Freya, I can’t go back there. That’s were Stevie died…”

I snapped my head around and screamed at him, 

“I don’t care Finn. Maybe you should have thought about that before you treated your wolf so badly, treated me with a complete lack of respect, and continued to insult my kind. You’ve burned your bridges here Finnley,” I turned away from him, not even wanting to entertain a response from him. As I reached Marik I shouted out, “Go and be with Mason, Carmen, Imogen, and every other member of that so-called family of mine. All you hunters deserve each other. Angels, my ass!”

Marik chuckled and linked arms with me, I wasn’t in the mood to laugh. In fact, I felt like I’d just severed the last connection I had to my dad and the hunters as a whole. I knew my pack was made up of hunter hybrids, but they’d fully excepted their wolves and didn’t see themselves as hunters anymore. If anything, they were a whole new breed. I knew from that moment, that I would never accept the hunters the way they were, and if they wanted peace and acceptance during, or after this war, they had a lot of work convincing me. Any hunters that crossed my path now, would instantly be turned, I had lost all respect and love for them. Now I hated them all.

 ***

Mason Hart

My head was banging and I felt so weak. When I opened my eyes, I found myself in a bed, the question was, who’s bed exactly? I couldn’t remember what had happened, I couldn’t remember anything. I scrambled back on the bed when a man walked in. I didn’t know who he was, or why I was here. A sense of complete loss washed over me.

“Mason, dude! You’re finally awake.”

The guy rushed over to me and launched himself across the bed at me. I squeezed my eyes closed and heard a high-pitched scream. I didn’t know what sort of place this was, are they torturing people?

“Woah, Mace. It’s okay, I’m not going to hurt you. It’s me, you don’t need to scream.”

Was that me screaming? Who is this guy?

I opened my eyes again and saw that the guy had gotten off of the bed and was now holding his hands out in front of him.

“Who is Mason? Who are you?” I asked the stranger.

His eyes grew wide, and all the color drained from his face. He turned away and walked towards the door, and I hoped that he would just leave, but he didn’t.

“Mom!” he screamed out, “we’ve got a huge fucking problem!”